The only good thing I can say about the 4-footer is that ten forward is lit up.

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Yeah, not a very nice looking model at all...at least not compared to the 6 foot model.

Since they have to recomposit everything, perhaps in cases where a 6 foot version of the same angle of the ship exists, they could swap out the 4 foot for the 6 foot? There will still be scenes where the 4 footer is used, but it would be nice if they could use the 6 footer for as many close ups and beauty passes as possible.

The only good thing I can say about the 4-footer is that ten forward is lit up.

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Yeah, not a very nice looking model at all...at least not compared to the 6 foot model.

Since they have to recomposit everything, perhaps in cases where a 6 foot version of the same angle of the ship exists, they could swap out the 4 foot for the 6 foot? There will still be scenes where the 4 footer is used, but it would be nice if they could use the 6 footer for as many close ups and beauty passes as possible.

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Looking at that shot, the detailing on the 4-foot model looks exaggerated, and may get distracting in space shots.

The best part is ten-forward, and the saucer rim is the 'correct' two-deck size to accommodate it. I would heartily suggest that they create a CGI model with the lines of the 6-foot model, the 2-deck saucer rim of the 4-foot, and as much detailing as possible (so we can see into the windows as the ship passes, etc.).

As the person who originally took those screenshots I feel qualified to upload them here: ;-)

Image 1

Image 2

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Why did they even bother to do this? It's the same angle, the same lighting.

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Because this is a static screenshot of a moving image? It's possible that the ship/camera movement is different in the video, but the screenshots were chosen so that the ships looked identical to compare the models.

Wasn't there supposed to be a ring of observation lounges around the rim of the saucer?

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The rim of the saucer was supposed to be one deck high with the windows above and below sunk into the ceiling/floor to create a "wall of stars" effect with the wall between the windows (which housed the sensor strip on the outside of the ship. This area was supposed to basically a long hallway with chairs, tables and other gathering spots. I guess the budget didn't allow for even a portion of this set to be done given the budget limitations and the space limitations of the studio. IIRC this is one of the reasons why the rim of the saucer (in universe, at least) has unlit windows, this corridor was supposed to be dimly lit for atmosphere.

Ten-Forward was designed as a compromise with the slightly increased budget in S2 to the "grand corridor", even though it didn't fit into the design of the ship it was fudged to.

I didn't know that. That would have been very cool but I can see why they didn't end up doing it.

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HERE'S a design sketch by Andrew Probert on what the original idea was behind the E-D's saucer rim and and ARTICLE on his original design intent.

While I think Ten-Forward served the role of the lounge nicely for story telling purposes and for the "atmosphere" the ship was supposed to have of civilians, officers and such living together in a flying space city -something I love about TNG- I think Probert's original idea would've been quite awesome to see and would've given the ship and even greater atmosphere. Would've been awesome to have seen something in the ship like is suggest to have existed that was basically like a mall with shops, restaurants and such to give the ship a real city-like feel.

Its pretty certain the 4 ft model is one of the more unpopular additions to STNG, even as the latter seasons improved qualitatively...I'm not a huge fan of it, but if we step back a bit, the 4 ft model made it easier to film a wider variety of angles and I appreciate it for that. That said, I really would have liked ONE version of the ship, even if the ten-forward area was inaccurate for the STNG-R. There's still a chance they might change the 4-foot shots in the actual series releases after the sampler...well let's hope.

Would've been awesome to have seen something in the ship like is suggest to have existed that was basically like a mall with shops, restaurants and such to give the ship a real city-like feel.

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A concept that eventually was realized as DS9's promenade. But if you think about it, the idea of having such in the Enterprise would have dated the show heavily to the 1980's.

I mean come on ... a "mall?"

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Well maybe not a "mall" per se, but the ship was supposed to be about 20% civilian population so some sort of community gathering area would've been nice to see, or at the very least was there and we just never got to see it.